Preserving deprecated database columns

ABSTRACT

A method of preserving deprecated database columns across application upgrades may include maintaining a database communicatively coupled to an application. The application may include a first schema. The first schema may indicate a first column for the database. The method may also include receiving an update for the application. The update may include a second schema that removes the first column from the database. The method may additionally include renaming the first column by appending a prefix to a name of the first column. The prefix may indicate that the first column is deprecated. The method may further include maintaining the first column in the database.

BACKGROUND

Many enterprise applications are communicatively coupled to a databasefor storing and manipulating large amounts of data. Throughout thelifecycle of the software applications, numerous upgrades, patches, andversioning changes may be applied. With each of these changes to theapplications, the schema structure of the database may change. This mayinvolve adding or removing columns of data.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In one embodiment, a method of preserving deprecated database columnsacross application upgrades may be presented. The method may includemaintaining a database communicatively coupled to an application. Theapplication may include a first schema. The first schema may indicate afirst column for the database. The method may also include receiving anupdate for the application. The update may include a second schema thatremoves the first column from the database. The method may additionallyinclude renaming the first column by appending a prefix to a name of thefirst column. The prefix may indicate that the first column isdeprecated. The method may further include maintaining the first columnin the database.

In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may bepresented. The computer-readable memory may comprise instructions that,when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform operations including maintaining a databasecommunicatively coupled to an application. The application may include afirst schema. The first schema may indicate a first column for thedatabase. The operations may also include receiving an update for theapplication. The update may include a second schema that removes thefirst column from the database. The operations may additionally includerenaming the first column by appending a prefix to a name of the firstcolumn. The prefix may indicate that the first column is deprecated. Theoperations may further include maintaining the first column in thedatabase.

In yet another embodiment, a system may be presented. The system mayinclude one or more processors and a one or more memory devicesincluding instructions that, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, cause the one or more processors to perform operationsincluding maintaining a database communicatively coupled to anapplication. The application may include a first schema. The firstschema may indicate a first column for the database. The operations mayalso include receiving an update for the application. The update mayinclude a second schema that removes the first column from the database.The operations may additionally include renaming the first column byappending a prefix to a name of the first column. The prefix mayindicate that the first column is deprecated. The operations may furtherinclude maintaining the first column in the database.

In various implementations of these embodiments, one or more of thefollowing features may be included without limitation. The second schemamay also add a second column to the database, and the method/operaiontsmay further include adding the second column to the database byappending a prefix to a name of the second column, where the prefix mayindicate that the first column is a beta version, and maintaining thesecond column in the database. The method/operations may also includereceiving a second update for the application, where the second updatemay include a third schema that does not remove the second column fromthe database, and maintaining the second column in the database byremoving the prefix from the name of the second column. The prefix maynot be allowed to be used by user-defined software packages. The prefixand the name of the first column may be separated by a “$” character.The method/operations may additionally include receiving a command torestore the first schema for the database, and restoring the firstcolumn in the database by removing the prefix from the name of the firstcolumn. The method/operations may further include receiving a secondupdate for the application, where the second update does not restore thefirst column to the database, and deleting the first column from thedatabase in response to receiving the second update. Themethod/operations may also include receiving a second update for theapplication, where the second update does not restore the first columnto the database, and maintaining the first column in the database byremoving the prefix from the name of the first column and replacing theprefix with a second prefix that refers to a user-defined softwarepackage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the presentinvention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of thespecification and the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are usedthroughout the several drawings to refer to similar components. In someinstances, a sub-label is associated with a reference numeral to denoteone of multiple similar components. When reference is made to areference numeral without specification to an existing sub-label, it isintended to refer to all such multiple similar components.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an application coupled to adatabase receiving an update, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates one way of renaming columns in a database withprefixes, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an updated database with prefix renaming, accordingto some embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a column lifecycle through variousschema upgrades, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a method of deprecating a column in a database,according to some embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates a method of adding a column during a beta test of adatabase, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates a method of moving a database column beyond itsdeprecated status, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a distributed systemfor implementing some of the embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates a simplified block diagram of components of a systemenvironment by which services provided by the components of anembodiment system may be offered as cloud services.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary computer system, in which variousembodiments may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Described herein, are embodiments for adding and/or subtracting databaseinformation between schema changes associated with application upgrades.Application upgrades often change the schema of the database. Data thatwas used by a previous version of the application may not be necessaryin later versions. Likewise, new data fields may be added asapplications continue to evolve. As the software lifecycle of theapplication progresses, a schema definition for data stored in anassociated database may be changed to reflect these data changes. Thetypical result is for data columns in a database to either be added orremoved from the database when the application is upgraded.

When it is determined that information stored in a database column is nolonger necessary for the operation of the product, a new database schemawill often eliminate that column from the database. However, customersoften desire to retain that information or at least have some means tomigrate that data to another storage location without needing to performtime-consuming backup operations before and/or after the applicationupgrade is completed. In the past, customers had to be aware that datawas going to be lost due to impending application updates and had tocopy the data to another location before the update process began. Thispresented a number of difficulties because often the level of detailnecessary to determine which data columns would be removed was notdisclosed as part of the upgrade documentation. If a large amount ofdata was being removed from the database, creating these temporarybackups also required significant storage space to duplicate databasecolumns. Because of these and other difficulties, customers often simplysuffered through the loss of data associated with application upgrades.

In the embodiments described herein, changes to the schema associatedwith an application can continue to alter the way data is stored in thedatabase. However, instead of simply deleting or adding columns of data,some embodiments may maintain deprecated data columns in the database byrenaming the database columns in such a way that ensures that datacollisions are avoided and eliminates the costly duplication of datacolumns in auxiliary backup locations. Similarly, as columns are addedto the database, they can be renamed using a reserved namespace prefixthat allows them to be easily identified, made permanent, and/or deletedby the customer and/or the developer. By way of example, instead ofdeleting a data column, a data column can be renamed with a prefix tothe existing column name, such as “DEPRECATED$OldColName”, and a datacolumn to be added would be inserted with a prefix and the new columnname, such as “BETA$NewColName”. These prefixes may correspond toreserved namespaces that are not used by either user packages orexisting developer packages. Over time, columns in the deprecatednamespace can be deleted or permanently migrated to a user-packagenamespace, and columns in the beta namespace can be deleted or migratedinto the developer namespace (e.g., removing the prefix altogether).

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an application coupled to adatabase receiving an update, according to some embodiments. A firstversion of application 102 may include a first database schema 104 thatdefines a plurality of data fields represented as columns 106, 108, 110in an associated database 118. As used herein, a “schema” refers to adatabase schema, or a structure described in a formal language supportedby a database management system or an organizational blueprint of howthe database is constructed, divided into tables, and so forth. In someembodiments, the schema may simply be a formal definition of how data isstored in columns in tables in the database. Therefore, the firstdatabase schema 104 may include a definition that dictates data to bestored in column 106, column 108, and/or column 110. Each of thesecolumns may include the same type of data for various records in thedatabase (e.g. x, y, z). By way of example, column 106 may store aSocial Security number for students in a student record database.

Periodically, the application 102 may receive various updates. As usedherein, the term “update” may refer to any patch, security patch, modulereplacement, software upgrade, data upgrade, or any other type of changemade to the application 102. By way of example, a developer of theapplication can distribute a patch that addresses known security issues.In another example, a user may purchase a new version of the applicationthat is installed as replacement to a previous version of theapplication. In any of these update scenarios, data within the database118 may be changed according to a change in the schema. In FIG. 1, asecond version of the application 112 may result from any type ofupdate, and may include a second database schema 114. It will beunderstood that the second database schema 114 may make many changes tothe way that data is stored in the database 118. In this simplifiedexample, the second database schema 114 eliminates column 108 from thedatabase 118 and adds column 116 to the database 118.

Prior to this disclosure, upgrading the schema would require columns inthe database 118 to be removed and either permanently deleted or storedin another location. In contrast, the embodiments herein maintain thedata that is changed in the database 118 by renaming the column names.Therefore, column 108 will be maintained in the database 118, and column116 will be added to the database with prefixes that indicate theirstatus as either deprecated or beta.

Renaming the columns may take many different forms depending on theembodiments. In one exemplary embodiment, a naming convention compatiblewith MySQL databases is used for illustrative purposes only. To becompatible with MySQL syntax, a prefix may be placed before a “$”(dollar sign) in order to indicate that the column name following the“$” is part of the prefix namespace.

FIG. 2 illustrates one way of renaming columns in a database withprefixes, according to some embodiments. In these embodiments, prefixnames may denote namespaces corresponding to software packages.Typically, when a developer distributes an application with thedatabase, column names within the database will not have prefix.Instead, columns 214 in the original software package will simply bereferred to as a column name (e.g., LastName, StudentNo, Address, etc.).These original columns 214 are part of what will be referred to hereinas a standard package 204.

After a software product with the database has been made available to acustomer, the customer may wish to add functionality to the softwareproduct by creating custom plug-ins, modules, and/or the like. Thesecustomizations may require additional data fields in addition to thoseprovided by the schema of the standard package 204. Therefore, someembodiments may allow users to create user-specific software packages.These user packages 202 may include various namespaces that can beappended as prefixes to the column names of the newly added datacolumns. By way of example, FIG. 2 illustrates a shipping namespace 206with new shipping columns 210 in that namespace. Additionally, FIG. 2illustrates a CRM namespace 208 with new CRM columns 212 in thatnamespace. Note that the name of each column (e.g. “Col1”, “Col2”, etc.)is the same, however data collisions are avoided by the use of thenamespace prefixes. Therefore, the application can interpret“Shipping$Col1” as being a different column than “Col1”.

FIG. 3 illustrates an updated database with prefix renaming, accordingto some embodiments. As described in relation to FIG. 1, new columns canbe added to the database with a prefix that indicates that this columnis a newly added column, possibly of a temporary nature, that may needto be removed and/or made permanent during a subsequent softwareupgrade. Any naming convention may be used so long as it does notconflict with any existing software package namespace. By way ofexample, the embodiments described herein will use the term “BETA” as anamespace reserved for newly added columns resulting from the softwareupdate.

In similar fashion, data that is removed from the database can bemaintained instead of being deleted. The deprecated status of suchcolumns can be indicated by using a column prefix that indicates thatthe column is no longer part of the standard software package of the newsoftware version. Again, any naming convention may be used so long as itdoes not conflict with any existing software package namespace. By wayof example, the embodiments described herein will use the term“DEPRECATED” as a namespace reserved for columns that have been deletedby a software update. This prefix can simultaneously allow the softwareto ignore the deprecated data column and also easily identify thedeprecated data column to a user wishing to preserve the data columnrather than delete it permanently.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a column lifecycle through variousschema upgrades, according to some embodiments. When a column isinitially added to a schema, it may be done so on a temporary basis. Forexample, a beta version of a certain application feature may be includedin an application upgrade, and the beta version may include additionaldata columns that were not previously present in the database. Suchcolumns may be added as a beta column 402, and may be considered atemporary or provisional part of the database. The data column 402 willexist in the database the same as any other database column, theexception being that the name will be prefixed using a prefix thatindicates its beta status.

In order to transition from beta status to regular status, the betacolumn 402 can simply have the beta prefix removed. This transition maytake place at different times according to different embodiments. Insome embodiments, the beta prefix may be removed automatically after apredetermined amount of time. For example, new columns may be added witha beta prefix for 60 days, 90 days, or any other trial interval. At theexpiration of the trial interval, the beta status of the beta column 402may be removed. In some embodiments, subsequent upgrades to the softwareand/or database schema may also trigger removal of a column's betastatus prefix. For example, a first application upgrade may add the betacolumn 402. A subsequent application upgrade may automatically removethe beta prefix from the existing beta column 402 in order to allow newbeta columns to be added without confusion. In some embodiments, a betaversion prefix may also be used that indicates the number of softwareupdates since the beta column 402 was added. The beta version prefix canbe incremented with each software update and finally removed after apredetermined number of software updates. For example, beta column 402could be renamed as “Beta1$Col1” after a second upgrade, and renamed“Beta2$Col1” after a third upgrade. After these two subsequent upgrades,a third upgrade could remove the beta prefix from the beta column 402altogether. Other embodiments may use different criteria when removing abeta prefix, such as waiting for the software update to reach apredetermined level of stability that can be measured by a bug/errorreporting rate below a predetermined threshold, and so forth.

The beta column 402 can transition to a regular column 404 through theprocess described above. However, the beta column 402 can also bediscarded if the beta-portion of the software application is not given amore permanent status. In some embodiments, a second application upgrademay remove the beta-portion of the software added in a previous softwareupgrade. This may automatically trigger a process that searches thedatabase for columns with the beta prefix and remove these columns fromthe database entirely. Alternatively, instead of deleting the betacolumn 402 when it is not given more permanent status, the beta column402 could be transitioned to a deprecated column status with acorresponding prefix or a user-package prefix.

The regular column 404 may be transitioned to a deprecated column 406 asdescribed above as a result of a software update. In some cases, thedeprecated column 406 may be transitioned back to a regular column 404by simply removing the deprecated prefix. For example, a subsequentsoftware update may restore a software feature that was previouslyremoved. Oftentimes, customers object after popular software featureshave been removed from software upgrades. By using the deprecatedprefix, software developers can restore previously removed softwarefeatures without having to copy data back into the database fromarchival backup copies.

In some embodiments, both the deprecated and beta prefixes can includeadditional information that ties the column to a particular softwareupdate. This can allow deprecated/beta columns from different softwareupdates to coexist in the database while remaining distinguishable. Forexample, when updating a software version from v.1.1 to v.1.2 and thenlater to v.2.0, beta columns may be added such as “Beta.v.1.2$Col1” and“Beta.v.2.0$Col1”. Similarly, columns removed when transitioning betweensoftware updates can include deprecated prefixes, such as“Depricated.v.1.2$Col1”. Versioning of beta/deprecated prefixes canallow future software updates to transition columns between beta,regular, and deprecated status according to versions. For example, asoftware update may indicate to users that a certain software feature isbeing transitioned out of use and limited support may be provided duringa transition interval. This first software update can transition columnsto a deprecated status that allows for limited use and/or support. Afterthree subsequent software updates, the process can determine thatsoftware feature can be permanently removed and the deprecated columnsassociated with the first software update can then be removed whileleaving deprecated columns associated with other software updatesintact.

A deprecated column 406 can be restored as a regular column 404 byremoving the deprecated prefix. Alternatively, the deprecated column 406can transition to being a user-package column 408 by substituting thedeprecated prefix for a prefix associated with a particular userpackage. This allows users to create their own archival backups ofdeprecated columns instead of deleting them entirely.

FIG. 5 illustrates a method of deprecating a column in a database,according to some embodiments. The method may include maintaining adatabase for an application (502). The application may be associatedwith a first schema for the database. The database may becommunicatively coupled to the application through a database manager.For example, the application may be a web service that accesses datastored in a central database. The first schema can define a plurality ofcolumns in various tables stored within the database. The method mayalso include receiving an update for the application (504). The updatemay include a second schema that differs from the first schema. Forexample, the second schema may remove a first column from the databasethat was part of the first schema. The method may further includerenaming a removed column using a prefix that the notes deprecation(506). The prefix may simply be added to an existing column nameseparated by an identifier that is recognized by the database languageas separating prefixes from column names. In some embodiments, a prefixsuch as “deprecated” may be used. Other embodiments may useapplication-specific prefixes that indicate to an application that thecolumn is deprecated. The prefix may be restricted such thatuser-defined software packages are not allowed to use the prefix andsuch that it is not confused with the regular software package of theapplication. Some embodiments may include versioning information in theprefix. The process may also include maintaining the renamed column inthe database (508). In some embodiments, this means that the only changeto the data column is the prefix added to the name. Some embodiments mayalso transition deprecated columns to a special deprecated table foreasy identification.

FIG. 6 illustrates a method of adding a column during a beta test of adatabase, according to some embodiments. This method is similar to themethod for deprecating a column described above in relation to FIG. 5.The method may include maintaining the database with the first schema(602) and receiving an update with a second schema (604). In this case,the second schema can add at least one column to the database. Themethod may include renaming the added column using a prefix thatindicates its beta status (606). Some embodiments need not rename thecolumn per se, but can instead include storing the column with the betaprefix as provided by the software update. For example, a softwareupdate may arrive with the beta prefix already added to any new columnsfor the database. As described above, the method may then includemaintaining the renamed column in the database (608). In someembodiments, subsequent updates to the software can automaticallytransition the beta column to become a regular column by removing thebeta indicator from the prefix.

FIG. 7 illustrates a method of moving a database column beyond itsdeprecated status, according to some embodiments. The method may includereceiving a second update for the application (702). The second updatefor the application can include an indication that a previouslydeprecated column should be removed. In some embodiments, the secondupdate of the application can specifically indicate particulardeprecated columns that should be removed (e.g. columns deprecated by aspecific previous software update version). Alternatively oradditionally, the second update can automatically remove deprecatedcolumns that were deprecated a predetermined number of versions ago(e.g. columns deprecated at least two software updates ago). Therefore,the method may include determining particular deprecated columns totransition to a new status (704).

Deprecated columns can be transitioned back to a regular column statusby removing the prefix, deleting them from the database (710), and/ortransitioning them to a user-software package by changing the prefix(712). The decision (708) can be made automatically or set by userpreference. For example, part of an update procedure may present userswith the option to maintain the columns' deprecated status, and/ortransition columns to a user-defined software package. Users may alsoestablish preferences that can be provided to the update process.Alternatively or additionally, some software updates may includeinstructions that instruct the update process to remove columns,deprecate columns, maintain the deprecated status of columns, and/ortransition columns to user-defined software packages.

It should be appreciated that the specific steps illustrated in FIGS.5-7 provide particular methods of adding/removing database columns inresponse to software upgrades according to various embodiments of thepresent invention. Other sequences of steps may also be performedaccording to alternative embodiments. For example, alternativeembodiments of the present invention may perform the steps outlinedabove in a different order. Moreover, the individual steps illustratedin FIGS. 5-7 may include multiple sub-steps that may be performed invarious sequences as appropriate to the individual step. Furthermore,additional steps may be added or removed depending on the particularapplications. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize manyvariations, modifications, and alternatives.

Each of the methods described herein may be implemented by a computersystem, such as computer system. Each step of these methods may beexecuted automatically by the computer system, and/or may be providedwith inputs/outputs involving a user. For example, a user may provideinputs for each step in a method, and each of these inputs may be inresponse to a specific output requesting such an input, wherein theoutput is generated by the computer system. Each input may be receivedin response to a corresponding requesting output. Furthermore, inputsmay be received from a user, from another computer system as a datastream, retrieved from a memory location, retrieved over a network,requested from a web service, and/or the like. Likewise, outputs may beprovided to a user, to another computer system as a data stream, savedin a memory location, sent over a network, provided to a web service,and/or the like. In short, each step of the methods described herein maybe performed by a computer system, and may involve any number of inputs,outputs, and/or requests to and from the computer system which may ormay not involve a user. Those steps not involving a user may be said tobe performed automatically by the computer system without humanintervention. Therefore, it will be understood in light of thisdisclosure, that each step of each method described herein may bealtered to include an input and output to and from a user, or may bedone automatically by a computer system without human intervention whereany determinations are made by a processor. Furthermore, someembodiments of each of the methods described herein may be implementedas a set of instructions stored on a tangible, non-transitory storagemedium to form a tangible software product.

FIG. 8 depicts a simplified diagram of a distributed system 800 forimplementing one of the embodiments. In the illustrated embodiment,distributed system 800 includes one or more client computing devices802, 804, 806, and 808, which are configured to execute and operate aclient application such as a web browser, proprietary client (e.g.,Oracle Forms), or the like over one or more network(s) 810. Server 812may be communicatively coupled with remote client computing devices 802,804, 806, and 808 via network 810.

In various embodiments, server 812 may be adapted to run one or moreservices or software applications provided by one or more of thecomponents of the system. In some embodiments, these services may beoffered as web-based or cloud services or under a Software as a Service(SaaS) model to the users of client computing devices 802, 804, 806,and/or 808. Users operating client computing devices 802, 804, 806,and/or 808 may in turn utilize one or more client applications tointeract with server 812 to utilize the services provided by thesecomponents.

In the configuration depicted in the figure, the software components818, 820 and 822 of system 800 are shown as being implemented on server812. In other embodiments, one or more of the components of system 800and/or the services provided by these components may also be implementedby one or more of the client computing devices 802, 804, 806, and/or808. Users operating the client computing devices may then utilize oneor more client applications to use the services provided by thesecomponents. These components may be implemented in hardware, firmware,software, or combinations thereof. It should be appreciated that variousdifferent system configurations are possible, which may be differentfrom distributed system 800. The embodiment shown in the figure is thusone example of a distributed system for implementing an embodimentsystem and is not intended to be limiting.

Client computing devices 802, 804, 806, and/or 808 may be portablehandheld devices (e.g., an iPhone®, cellular telephone, an iPad®,computing tablet, a personal digital assistant (PDA)) or wearabledevices (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounted display), running softwaresuch as Microsoft Windows Mobile®, and/or a variety of mobile operatingsystems such as iOS, Windows Phone, Android, BlackBerry 10, Palm OS, andthe like, and being Internet, e-mail, short message service (SMS),Blackberry®, or other communication protocol enabled. The clientcomputing devices can be general purpose personal computers including,by way of example, personal computers and/or laptop computers runningvarious versions of Microsoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linuxoperating systems. The client computing devices can be workstationcomputers running any of a variety of commercially-available UNIX® orUNIX-like operating systems, including without limitation the variety ofGNU/Linux operating systems, such as for example, Google Chrome OS.Alternatively, or in addition, client computing devices 802, 804, 806,and 808 may be any other electronic device, such as a thin-clientcomputer, an Internet-enabled gaming system (e.g., a Microsoft Xboxgaming console with or without a Kinect® gesture input device), and/or apersonal messaging device, capable of communicating over network(s) 810.

Although exemplary distributed system 800 is shown with four clientcomputing devices, any number of client computing devices may besupported. Other devices, such as devices with sensors, etc., mayinteract with server 812.

Network(s) 810 in distributed system 800 may be any type of networkfamiliar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of commercially-availableprotocols, including without limitation TCP/IP (transmission controlprotocol/Internet protocol), SNA (systems network architecture), IPX(Internet packet exchange), AppleTalk, and the like. Merely by way ofexample, network(s) 810 can be a local area network (LAN), such as onebased on Ethernet, Token-Ring and/or the like. Network(s) 810 can be awide-area network and the Internet. It can include a virtual network,including without limitation a virtual private network (VPN), anintranet, an extranet, a public switched telephone network (PSTN), aninfra-red network, a wireless network (e.g., a network operating underany of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics (IEEE) 802.11 suiteof protocols, Bluetooth®, and/or any other wireless protocol); and/orany combination of these and/or other networks.

Server 812 may be composed of one or more general purpose computers,specialized server computers (including, by way of example, PC (personalcomputer) servers, UNIX® servers, mid-range servers, mainframecomputers, rack-mounted servers, etc.), server farms, server clusters,or any other appropriate arrangement and/or combination. In variousembodiments, server 812 may be adapted to run one or more services orsoftware applications described in the foregoing disclosure. Forexample, server 812 may correspond to a server for performing processingdescribed above according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Server 812 may run an operating system including any of those discussedabove, as well as any commercially available server operating system.Server 812 may also run any of a variety of additional serverapplications and/or mid-tier applications, including HTTP (hypertexttransport protocol) servers, FTP (file transfer protocol) servers, CGI(common gateway interface) servers, JAVA® servers, database servers, andthe like. Exemplary database servers include without limitation thosecommercially available from Oracle, Microsoft, Sybase, IBM(International Business Machines), and the like.

In some implementations, server 812 may include one or more applicationsto analyze and consolidate data feeds and/or event updates received fromusers of client computing devices 802, 804, 806, and 808. As an example,data feeds and/or event updates may include, but are not limited to,Twitter® feeds, Facebook® updates or real-time updates received from oneor more third party information sources and continuous data streams,which may include real-time events related to sensor data applications,financial tickers, network performance measuring tools (e.g., networkmonitoring and traffic management applications), clickstream analysistools, automobile traffic monitoring, and the like. Server 812 may alsoinclude one or more applications to display the data feeds and/orreal-time events via one or more display devices of client computingdevices 802, 804, 806, and 808.

Distributed system 800 may also include one or more databases 814 and816. Databases 814 and 816 may reside in a variety of locations. By wayof example, one or more of databases 814 and 816 may reside on anon-transitory storage medium local to (and/or resident in) server 812.Alternatively, databases 814 and 816 may be remote from server 812 andin communication with server 812 via a network-based or dedicatedconnection. In one set of embodiments, databases 814 and 816 may residein a storage-area network (SAN). Similarly, any necessary files forperforming the functions attributed to server 812 may be stored locallyon server 812 and/or remotely, as appropriate. In one set ofembodiments, databases 814 and 816 may include relational databases,such as databases provided by Oracle, that are adapted to store, update,and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.

FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of one or more components of asystem environment 900 by which services provided by one or morecomponents of an embodiment system may be offered as cloud services, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. In theillustrated embodiment, system environment 900 includes one or moreclient computing devices 904, 906, and 908 that may be used by users tointeract with a cloud infrastructure system 902 that provides cloudservices. The client computing devices may be configured to operate aclient application such as a web browser, a proprietary clientapplication (e.g., Oracle Forms), or some other application, which maybe used by a user of the client computing device to interact with cloudinfrastructure system 902 to use services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 902.

It should be appreciated that cloud infrastructure system 902 depictedin the figure may have other components than those depicted. Further,the embodiment shown in the figure is only one example of a cloudinfrastructure system that may incorporate an embodiment of theinvention. In some other embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 902may have more or fewer components than shown in the figure, may combinetwo or more components, or may have a different configuration orarrangement of components.

Client computing devices 904, 906, and 908 may be devices similar tothose described above for 802, 804, 806, and 808.

Although exemplary system environment 900 is shown with three clientcomputing devices, any number of client computing devices may besupported. Other devices such as devices with sensors, etc. may interactwith cloud infrastructure system 902.

Network(s) 910 may facilitate communications and exchange of databetween clients 904, 906, and 908 and cloud infrastructure system 902.Each network may be any type of network familiar to those skilled in theart that can support data communications using any of a variety ofcommercially-available protocols, including those described above fornetwork(s) 810.

Cloud infrastructure system 902 may comprise one or more computersand/or servers that may include those described above for server 812.

In certain embodiments, services provided by the cloud infrastructuresystem may include a host of services that are made available to usersof the cloud infrastructure system on demand, such as online datastorage and backup solutions, Web-based e-mail services, hosted officesuites and document collaboration services, database processing, managedtechnical support services, and the like. Services provided by the cloudinfrastructure system can dynamically scale to meet the needs of itsusers. A specific instantiation of a service provided by cloudinfrastructure system is referred to herein as a “service instance.” Ingeneral, any service made available to a user via a communicationnetwork, such as the Internet, from a cloud service provider's system isreferred to as a “cloud service.” Typically, in a public cloudenvironment, servers and systems that make up the cloud serviceprovider's system are different from the customer's own on-premisesservers and systems. For example, a cloud service provider's system mayhost an application, and a user may, via a communication network such asthe Internet, on demand, order and use the application.

In some examples, a service in a computer network cloud infrastructuremay include protected computer network access to storage, a hosteddatabase, a hosted web server, a software application, or other serviceprovided by a cloud vendor to a user, or as otherwise known in the art.For example, a service can include password-protected access to remotestorage on the cloud through the Internet. As another example, a servicecan include a web service-based hosted relational database and ascript-language middleware engine for private use by a networkeddeveloper. As another example, a service can include access to an emailsoftware application hosted on a cloud vendor's web site.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 902 may include asuite of applications, middleware, and database service offerings thatare delivered to a customer in a self-service, subscription-based,elastically scalable, reliable, highly available, and secure manner. Anexample of such a cloud infrastructure system is the Oracle Public Cloudprovided by the present assignee.

In various embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 902 may be adaptedto automatically provision, manage and track a customer's subscriptionto services offered by cloud infrastructure system 902. Cloudinfrastructure system 902 may provide the cloud services via differentdeployment models. For example, services may be provided under a publiccloud model in which cloud infrastructure system 902 is owned by anorganization selling cloud services (e.g., owned by Oracle) and theservices are made available to the general public or different industryenterprises. As another example, services may be provided under aprivate cloud model in which cloud infrastructure system 902 is operatedsolely for a single organization and may provide services for one ormore entities within the organization. The cloud services may also beprovided under a community cloud model in which cloud infrastructuresystem 902 and the services provided by cloud infrastructure system 902are shared by several organizations in a related community. The cloudservices may also be provided under a hybrid cloud model, which is acombination of two or more different models.

In some embodiments, the services provided by cloud infrastructuresystem 902 may include one or more services provided under Software as aService (SaaS) category, Platform as a Service (PaaS) category,Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) category, or other categories ofservices including hybrid services. A customer, via a subscriptionorder, may order one or more services provided by cloud infrastructuresystem 902. Cloud infrastructure system 902 then performs processing toprovide the services in the customer's subscription order.

In some embodiments, the services provided by cloud infrastructuresystem 902 may include, without limitation, application services,platform services and infrastructure services. In some examples,application services may be provided by the cloud infrastructure systemvia a SaaS platform. The SaaS platform may be configured to providecloud services that fall under the SaaS category. For example, the SaaSplatform may provide capabilities to build and deliver a suite ofon-demand applications on an integrated development and deploymentplatform. The SaaS platform may manage and control the underlyingsoftware and infrastructure for providing the SaaS services. Byutilizing the services provided by the SaaS platform, customers canutilize applications executing on the cloud infrastructure system.Customers can acquire the application services without the need forcustomers to purchase separate licenses and support. Various differentSaaS services may be provided. Examples include, without limitation,services that provide solutions for sales performance management,enterprise integration, and business flexibility for largeorganizations.

In some embodiments, platform services may be provided by the cloudinfrastructure system via a PaaS platform. The PaaS platform may beconfigured to provide cloud services that fall under the PaaS category.Examples of platform services may include without limitation servicesthat enable organizations (such as Oracle) to consolidate existingapplications on a shared, common architecture, as well as the ability tobuild new applications that leverage the shared services provided by theplatform. The PaaS platform may manage and control the underlyingsoftware and infrastructure for providing the PaaS services. Customerscan acquire the PaaS services provided by the cloud infrastructuresystem without the need for customers to purchase separate licenses andsupport. Examples of platform services include, without limitation,Oracle Java Cloud Service (JCS), Oracle Database Cloud Service (DBCS),and others.

By utilizing the services provided by the PaaS platform, customers canemploy programming languages and tools supported by the cloudinfrastructure system and also control the deployed services. In someembodiments, platform services provided by the cloud infrastructuresystem may include database cloud services, middleware cloud services(e.g., Oracle Fusion Middleware services), and Java cloud services. Inone embodiment, database cloud services may support shared servicedeployment models that enable organizations to pool database resourcesand offer customers a Database as a Service in the form of a databasecloud. Middleware cloud services may provide a platform for customers todevelop and deploy various business applications, and Java cloudservices may provide a platform for customers to deploy Javaapplications, in the cloud infrastructure system.

Various different infrastructure services may be provided by an IaaSplatform in the cloud infrastructure system. The infrastructure servicesfacilitate the management and control of the underlying computingresources, such as storage, networks, and other fundamental computingresources for customers utilizing services provided by the SaaS platformand the PaaS platform.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 902 may also includeinfrastructure resources 930 for providing the resources used to providevarious services to customers of the cloud infrastructure system. In oneembodiment, infrastructure resources 930 may include pre-integrated andoptimized combinations of hardware, such as servers, storage, andnetworking resources to execute the services provided by the PaaSplatform and the SaaS platform.

In some embodiments, resources in cloud infrastructure system 902 may beshared by multiple users and dynamically re-allocated per demand.Additionally, resources may be allocated to users in different timezones. For example, cloud infrastructure system 930 may enable a firstset of users in a first time zone to utilize resources of the cloudinfrastructure system for a specified number of hours and then enablethe re-allocation of the same resources to another set of users locatedin a different time zone, thereby maximizing the utilization ofresources.

In certain embodiments, a number of internal shared services 932 may beprovided that are shared by different components or modules of cloudinfrastructure system 902 and by the services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 902. These internal shared services may include,without limitation, a security and identity service, an integrationservice, an enterprise repository service, an enterprise managerservice, a virus scanning and white list service, a high availability,backup and recovery service, service for enabling cloud support, anemail service, a notification service, a file transfer service, and thelike.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 902 may providecomprehensive management of cloud services (e.g., SaaS, PaaS, and IaaSservices) in the cloud infrastructure system. In one embodiment, cloudmanagement functionality may include capabilities for provisioning,managing and tracking a customer's subscription received by cloudinfrastructure system 902, and the like.

In one embodiment, as depicted in the figure, cloud managementfunctionality may be provided by one or more modules, such as an ordermanagement module 920, an order orchestration module 922, an orderprovisioning module 924, an order management and monitoring module 926,and an identity management module 928. These modules may include or beprovided using one or more computers and/or servers, which may begeneral purpose computers, specialized server computers, server farms,server clusters, or any other appropriate arrangement and/orcombination.

In exemplary operation 934, a customer using a client device, such asclient device 904, 906 or 908, may interact with cloud infrastructuresystem 902 by requesting one or more services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 902 and placing an order for a subscription forone or more services offered by cloud infrastructure system 902. Incertain embodiments, the customer may access a cloud User Interface(UI), cloud UI 912, cloud UI 914 and/or cloud UI 916 and place asubscription order via these UIs. The order information received bycloud infrastructure system 902 in response to the customer placing anorder may include information identifying the customer and one or moreservices offered by the cloud infrastructure system 902 that thecustomer intends to subscribe to.

After an order has been placed by the customer, the order information isreceived via the cloud UIs, 912, 914 and/or 916.

At operation 936, the order is stored in order database 918. Orderdatabase 918 can be one of several databases operated by cloudinfrastructure system 918 and operated in conjunction with other systemelements.

At operation 938, the order information is forwarded to an ordermanagement module 920. In some instances, order management module 920may be configured to perform billing and accounting functions related tothe order, such as verifying the order, and upon verification, bookingthe order.

At operation 940, information regarding the order is communicated to anorder orchestration module 922. Order orchestration module 922 mayutilize the order information to orchestrate the provisioning ofservices and resources for the order placed by the customer. In someinstances, order orchestration module 922 may orchestrate theprovisioning of resources to support the subscribed services using theservices of order provisioning module 924.

In certain embodiments, order orchestration module 922 enables themanagement of business processes associated with each order and appliesbusiness logic to determine whether an order should proceed toprovisioning. At operation 942, upon receiving an order for a newsubscription, order orchestration module 922 sends a request to orderprovisioning module 924 to allocate resources and configure thoseresources needed to fulfill the subscription order. Order provisioningmodule 924 enables the allocation of resources for the services orderedby the customer. Order provisioning module 924 provides a level ofabstraction between the cloud services provided by cloud infrastructuresystem 900 and the physical implementation layer that is used toprovision the resources for providing the requested services. Orderorchestration module 922 may thus be isolated from implementationdetails, such as whether or not services and resources are actuallyprovisioned on the fly or pre-provisioned and only allocated/assignedupon request.

At operation 944, once the services and resources are provisioned, anotification of the provided service may be sent to customers on clientdevices 904, 906 and/or 908 by order provisioning module 924 of cloudinfrastructure system 902.

At operation 946, the customer's subscription order may be managed andtracked by an order management and monitoring module 926. In someinstances, order management and monitoring module 926 may be configuredto collect usage statistics for the services in the subscription order,such as the amount of storage used, the amount data transferred, thenumber of users, and the amount of system up time and system down time.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 900 may include anidentity management module 928. Identity management module 928 may beconfigured to provide identity services, such as access management andauthorization services in cloud infrastructure system 900. In someembodiments, identity management module 928 may control informationabout customers who wish to utilize the services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 902. Such information can include information thatauthenticates the identities of such customers and information thatdescribes which actions those customers are authorized to performrelative to various system resources (e.g., files, directories,applications, communication ports, memory segments, etc.) Identitymanagement module 928 may also include the management of descriptiveinformation about each customer and about how and by whom thatdescriptive information can be accessed and modified.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary computer system 1000, in which variousembodiments of the present invention may be implemented. The system 1000may be used to implement any of the computer systems described above. Asshown in the figure, computer system 1000 includes a processing unit1004 that communicates with a number of peripheral subsystems via a bussubsystem 1002. These peripheral subsystems may include a processingacceleration unit 1006, an I/O subsystem 1008, a storage subsystem 1018and a communications subsystem 1024. Storage subsystem 1018 includestangible computer-readable storage media 1022 and a system memory 1010.

Bus subsystem 1002 provides a mechanism for letting the variouscomponents and subsystems of computer system 1000 communicate with eachother as intended. Although bus subsystem 1002 is shown schematically asa single bus, alternative embodiments of the bus subsystem may utilizemultiple buses. Bus subsystem 1002 may be any of several types of busstructures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. Forexample, such architectures may include an Industry StandardArchitecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, EnhancedISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) localbus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, which can beimplemented as a Mezzanine bus manufactured to the IEEE P1386.1standard.

Processing unit 1004, which can be implemented as one or more integratedcircuits (e.g., a conventional microprocessor or microcontroller),controls the operation of computer system 1000. One or more processorsmay be included in processing unit 1004. These processors may includesingle core or multicore processors. In certain embodiments, processingunit 1004 may be implemented as one or more independent processing units1032 and/or 1034 with single or multicore processors included in eachprocessing unit. In other embodiments, processing unit 1004 may also beimplemented as a quad-core processing unit formed by integrating twodual-core processors into a single chip.

In various embodiments, processing unit 1004 can execute a variety ofprograms in response to program code and can maintain multipleconcurrently executing programs or processes. At any given time, some orall of the program code to be executed can be resident in processor(s)1004 and/or in storage subsystem 1018. Through suitable programming,processor(s) 1004 can provide various functionalities described above.Computer system 1000 may additionally include a processing accelerationunit 1006, which can include a digital signal processor (DSP), aspecial-purpose processor, and/or the like.

I/O subsystem 1008 may include user interface input devices and userinterface output devices. User interface input devices may include akeyboard, pointing devices such as a mouse or trackball, a touchpad ortouch screen incorporated into a display, a scroll wheel, a click wheel,a dial, a button, a switch, a keypad, audio input devices with voicecommand recognition systems, microphones, and other types of inputdevices. User interface input devices may include, for example, motionsensing and/or gesture recognition devices such as the Microsoft Kinect®motion sensor that enables users to control and interact with an inputdevice, such as the Microsoft Xbox® 360 game controller, through anatural user interface using gestures and spoken commands. Userinterface input devices may also include eye gesture recognition devicessuch as the Google Glass® blink detector that detects eye activity(e.g., ‘blinking’ while taking pictures and/or making a menu selection)from users and transforms the eye gestures as input into an input device(e.g., Google Glass®). Additionally, user interface input devices mayinclude voice recognition sensing devices that enable users to interactwith voice recognition systems (e.g., Siri® navigator), through voicecommands.

User interface input devices may also include, without limitation, threedimensional (3D) mice, joysticks or pointing sticks, gamepads andgraphic tablets, and audio/visual devices such as speakers, digitalcameras, digital camcorders, portable media players, webcams, imagescanners, fingerprint scanners, barcode reader 3D scanners, 3D printers,laser rangefinders, and eye gaze tracking devices. Additionally, userinterface input devices may include, for example, medical imaging inputdevices such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging,position emission tomography, medical ultrasonography devices. Userinterface input devices may also include, for example, audio inputdevices such as MIDI keyboards, digital musical instruments and thelike.

User interface output devices may include a display subsystem, indicatorlights, or non-visual displays such as audio output devices, etc. Thedisplay subsystem may be a cathode ray tube (CRT), a flat-panel device,such as that using a liquid crystal display (LCD) or plasma display, aprojection device, a touch screen, and the like. In general, use of theterm “output device” is intended to include all possible types ofdevices and mechanisms for outputting information from computer system1000 to a user or other computer. For example, user interface outputdevices may include, without limitation, a variety of display devicesthat visually convey text, graphics and audio/video information such asmonitors, printers, speakers, headphones, automotive navigation systems,plotters, voice output devices, and modems.

Computer system 1000 may comprise a storage subsystem 1018 thatcomprises software elements, shown as being currently located within asystem memory 1010. System memory 1010 may store program instructionsthat are loadable and executable on processing unit 1004, as well asdata generated during the execution of these programs.

Depending on the configuration and type of computer system 1000, systemmemory 1010 may be volatile (such as random access memory (RAM)) and/ornon-volatile (such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, etc.) TheRAM typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediatelyaccessible to and/or presently being operated and executed by processingunit 1004. In some implementations, system memory 1010 may includemultiple different types of memory, such as static random access memory(SRAM) or dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In some implementations,a basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines thathelp to transfer information between elements within computer system1000, such as during start-up, may typically be stored in the ROM. Byway of example, and not limitation, system memory 1010 also illustratesapplication programs 1012, which may include client applications, Webbrowsers, mid-tier applications, relational database management systems(RDBMS), etc., program data 1014, and an operating system 1016. By wayof example, operating system 1016 may include various versions ofMicrosoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linux operating systems, avariety of commercially-available UNIX® or UNIX-like operating systems(including without limitation the variety of GNU/Linux operatingsystems, the Google Chrome® OS, and the like) and/or mobile operatingsystems such as iOS, Windows® Phone, Android® OS, BlackBerry® 10 OS, andPalm® OS operating systems.

Storage subsystem 1018 may also provide a tangible computer-readablestorage medium for storing the basic programming and data constructsthat provide the functionality of some embodiments. Software (programs,code modules, instructions) that when executed by a processor providethe functionality described above may be stored in storage subsystem1018. These software modules or instructions may be executed byprocessing unit 1004. Storage subsystem 1018 may also provide arepository for storing data used in accordance with the presentinvention.

Storage subsystem 1000 may also include a computer-readable storagemedia reader 1020 that can further be connected to computer-readablestorage media 1022. Together and, optionally, in combination with systemmemory 1010, computer-readable storage media 1022 may comprehensivelyrepresent remote, local, fixed, and/or removable storage devices plusstorage media for temporarily and/or more permanently containing,storing, transmitting, and retrieving computer-readable information.

Computer-readable storage media 1022 containing code, or portions ofcode, can also include any appropriate media known or used in the art,including storage media and communication media, such as but not limitedto, volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable mediaimplemented in any method or technology for storage and/or transmissionof information. This can include tangible computer-readable storagemedia such as RAM, ROM, electronically erasable programmable ROM(EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disk (DVD), or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or other tangible computer readable media. This can also includenontangible computer-readable media, such as data signals, datatransmissions, or any other medium which can be used to transmit thedesired information and which can be accessed by computing system 1000.

By way of example, computer-readable storage media 1022 may include ahard disk drive that reads from or writes to non-removable, nonvolatilemagnetic media, a magnetic disk drive that reads from or writes to aremovable, nonvolatile magnetic disk, and an optical disk drive thatreads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile optical disk such as aCD ROM, DVD, and Blu-Ray® disk, or other optical media.Computer-readable storage media 1022 may include, but is not limited to,Zip® drives, flash memory cards, universal serial bus (USB) flashdrives, secure digital (SD) cards, DVD disks, digital video tape, andthe like. Computer-readable storage media 1022 may also include,solid-state drives (SSD) based on non-volatile memory such asflash-memory based SSDs, enterprise flash drives, solid state ROM, andthe like, SSDs based on volatile memory such as solid state RAM, dynamicRAM, static RAM, DRAM-based SSDs, magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) SSDs, andhybrid SSDs that use a combination of DRAM and flash memory based SSDs.The disk drives and their associated computer-readable media may providenon-volatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules, and other data for computer system 1000.

Communications subsystem 1024 provides an interface to other computersystems and networks. Communications subsystem 1024 serves as aninterface for receiving data from and transmitting data to other systemsfrom computer system 1000. For example, communications subsystem 1024may enable computer system 1000 to connect to one or more devices viathe Internet. In some embodiments communications subsystem 1024 caninclude radio frequency (RF) transceiver components for accessingwireless voice and/or data networks (e.g., using cellular telephonetechnology, advanced data network technology, such as 3G, 4G or EDGE(enhanced data rates for global evolution), WiFi (IEEE 802.11 familystandards, or other mobile communication technologies, or anycombination thereof), global positioning system (GPS) receivercomponents, and/or other components. In some embodiments communicationssubsystem 1024 can provide wired network connectivity (e.g., Ethernet)in addition to or instead of a wireless interface.

In some embodiments, communications subsystem 1024 may also receiveinput communication in the form of structured and/or unstructured datafeeds 1026, event streams 1028, event updates 1030, and the like onbehalf of one or more users who may use computer system 1000.

By way of example, communications subsystem 1024 may be configured toreceive data feeds 1026 in real-time from users of social networksand/or other communication services such as Twitter® feeds, Facebook®updates, web feeds such as Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds, and/orreal-time updates from one or more third party information sources.

Additionally, communications subsystem 1024 may also be configured toreceive data in the form of continuous data streams, which may includeevent streams 1028 of real-time events and/or event updates 1030, thatmay be continuous or unbounded in nature with no explicit end. Examplesof applications that generate continuous data may include, for example,sensor data applications, financial tickers, network performancemeasuring tools (e.g. network monitoring and traffic managementapplications), clickstream analysis tools, automobile trafficmonitoring, and the like.

Communications subsystem 1024 may also be configured to output thestructured and/or unstructured data feeds 1026, event streams 1028,event updates 1030, and the like to one or more databases that may be incommunication with one or more streaming data source computers coupledto computer system 1000.

Computer system 1000 can be one of various types, including a handheldportable device (e.g., an iPhone® cellular phone, an iPad® computingtablet, a PDA), a wearable device (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounteddisplay), a PC, a workstation, a mainframe, a kiosk, a server rack, orany other data processing system.

Due to the ever-changing nature of computers and networks, thedescription of computer system 1000 depicted in the figure is intendedonly as a specific example. Many other configurations having more orfewer components than the system depicted in the figure are possible.For example, customized hardware might also be used and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, firmware, software (includingapplets), or a combination. Further, connection to other computingdevices, such as network input/output devices, may be employed. Based onthe disclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skillin the art will appreciate other ways and/or methods to implement thevarious embodiments.

In the foregoing description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details were set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of various embodiments of the present invention. It willbe apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that embodiments of thepresent invention may be practiced without some of these specificdetails. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shownin block diagram form.

The foregoing description provides exemplary embodiments only, and isnot intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of thedisclosure. Rather, the foregoing description of the exemplaryembodiments will provide those skilled in the art with an enablingdescription for implementing an exemplary embodiment. It should beunderstood that various changes may be made in the function andarrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Specific details are given in the foregoing description to provide athorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments maybe practiced without these specific details. For example, circuits,systems, networks, processes, and other components may have been shownas components in block diagram form in order not to obscure theembodiments in unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-knowncircuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques may havebeen shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring theembodiments.

Also, it is noted that individual embodiments may have been described asa process which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flowdiagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchartmay have described the operations as a sequential process, many of theoperations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition,the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process is terminatedwhen its operations are completed, but could have additional steps notincluded in a figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function,a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process correspondsto a function, its termination can correspond to a return of thefunction to the calling function or the main function.

The term “computer-readable medium” includes, but is not limited toportable or fixed storage devices, optical storage devices, wirelesschannels and various other mediums capable of storing, containing, orcarrying instruction(s) and/or data. A code segment ormachine-executable instructions may represent a procedure, a function, asubprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a softwarepackage, a class, or any combination of instructions, data structures,or program statements. A code segment may be coupled to another codesegment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receiving information,data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents. Information, arguments,parameters, data, etc., may be passed, forwarded, or transmitted via anysuitable means including memory sharing, message passing, token passing,network transmission, etc.

Furthermore, embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software,firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or anycombination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middlewareor microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessarytasks may be stored in a machine readable medium. A processor(s) mayperform the necessary tasks.

In the foregoing specification, aspects of the invention are describedwith reference to specific embodiments thereof, but those skilled in theart will recognize that the invention is not limited thereto. Variousfeatures and aspects of the above-described invention may be usedindividually or jointly. Further, embodiments can be utilized in anynumber of environments and applications beyond those described hereinwithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of thespecification. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to beregarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

Additionally, for the purposes of illustration, methods were describedin a particular order. It should be appreciated that in alternateembodiments, the methods may be performed in a different order than thatdescribed. It should also be appreciated that the methods describedabove may be performed by hardware components or may be embodied insequences of machine-executable instructions, which may be used to causea machine, such as a general-purpose or special-purpose processor orlogic circuits programmed with the instructions to perform the methods.These machine-executable instructions may be stored on one or moremachine readable mediums, such as CD-ROMs or other type of opticaldisks, floppy diskettes, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic oroptical cards, flash memory, or other types of machine-readable mediumssuitable for storing electronic instructions. Alternatively, the methodsmay be performed by a combination of hardware and software.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of preserving deprecated databasecolumns across application upgrades, the method comprising: maintaininga database communicatively coupled to an application, wherein theapplication includes a first schema, the first schema indicating a firstcolumn for the database; receiving an update for the application,wherein the update includes a second schema that removes the firstcolumn from the database; renaming the first column by appending aprefix to a name of the first column, wherein the prefix indicates thatthe first column is deprecated; maintaining the first column in thedatabase after the second schema has replaced the first schema byrecognizing the prefix to the name of the first column; and writing datafrom the application with the second schema to columns in the databaseother than the first column.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the secondschema also adds a second column to the database, the method furthercomprising: adding the second column to the database by appending aprefix to a name of the second column, wherein the prefix indicates thatthe first column is a beta version; and maintaining the second column inthe database.
 3. The method of claim 2 further comprising: receiving asecond update for the application, wherein the second update includes athird schema that does not remove the second column from the database;and maintaining the second column in the database by removing the prefixfrom the name of the second column.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein theprefix is not allowed to be used by user-defined software packages. 5.The method of claim 1 wherein the prefix and the name of the firstcolumn are separated by a “$” character.
 6. The method of claim 1further comprising: receiving a command to restore the first schema forthe database; and restoring the first column in the database by removingthe prefix from the name of the first column.
 7. The method of claim 1further comprising: receiving a second update for the application,wherein the second update does not restore the first column to thedatabase; and deleting the first column from the database in response toreceiving the second update.
 8. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: receiving a second update for the application, wherein thesecond update does not restore the first column to the database; andmaintaining the first column in the database by removing the prefix fromthe name of the first column and replacing the prefix with a secondprefix that refers to a user-defined software package.
 9. Anon-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising instructions which,when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform operations comprising: maintaining a databasecommunicatively coupled to an application, wherein the applicationincludes a first schema, the first schema indicating a first column forthe database; receiving an update for the application, wherein theupdate includes a second schema that removes the first column from thedatabase; renaming the first column by appending a prefix to a name ofthe first column, wherein the prefix indicates that the first column isdeprecated; maintaining the first column in the database after thesecond schema has replaced the first schema by recognizing the prefix tothe name of the first column; and writing data from the application withthe second schema to columns in the database other than the firstcolumn.
 10. The non-transitory computer-readable memory according toclaim 9 wherein the second schema also adds a second column to thedatabase, and wherein the instructions further cause the one or moreprocessors to perform operations comprising: adding the second column tothe database by appending a prefix to a name of the second column,wherein the prefix indicates that the first column is a beta version;and maintaining the second column in the database.
 11. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 10 whereinthe instructions cause the one or more processors to perform additionaloperations comprising: receiving a second update for the application,wherein the second update includes a third schema that does not removethe second column from the database; and maintaining the second columnin the database by removing the prefix from the name of the secondcolumn.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readable memory according toclaim 9 wherein the prefix is not allowed to be used by user-definedsoftware packages.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumaccording to claim 9 wherein the instructions cause the one or moreprocessors to perform additional operations comprising: receiving acommand to restore the first schema for the database; and restoring thefirst column in the database by removing the prefix from the name of thefirst column.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium accordingto claim 9 wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors toperform additional operations comprising: receiving a second update forthe application, wherein the second update does not restore the firstcolumn to the database; and deleting the first column from the databasein response to receiving the second update.
 15. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium according to claim 9 wherein the instructionscause the one or more processors to perform additional operationscomprising: receiving a second update for the application, wherein thesecond update does not restore the first column to the database; andmaintaining the first column in the database by removing the prefix fromthe name of the first column and replacing the prefix with a secondprefix that refers to a user-defined software package.
 16. A systemcomprising: one or more processors; and one or more memory devicescomprising instructions which, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, cause the one or more processors to perform operationscomprising: maintaining a database communicatively coupled to anapplication, wherein the application includes a first schema, the firstschema indicating a first column for the database; receiving an updatefor the application, wherein the update includes a second schema thatremoves the first column from the database; renaming the first column byappending a prefix to a name of the first column, wherein the prefixindicates that the first column is deprecated; maintaining the firstcolumn in the database after the second schema has replaced the firstschema by recognizing the prefix to the name of the first column; andwriting data from the application with the second schema to columns inthe database other than the first column.
 17. The system of claim 16wherein the second schema also adds a second column to the database, andwherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors toperform operations comprising: adding the second column to the databaseby appending a prefix to a name of the second column, wherein the prefixindicates that the first column is a beta version; and maintaining thesecond column in the database.
 18. The system of claim 17 wherein theinstructions further cause the one or more processors to performadditional operations comprising: receiving a second update for theapplication, wherein the second update includes a third schema that doesnot remove the second column from the database; and maintaining thesecond column in the database by removing the prefix from the name ofthe second column.
 19. The system of claim 16 wherein the instructionsfurther cause the one or more processors to perform additionaloperations comprising: receiving a command to restore the first schemafor the database; and restoring the first column in the database byremoving the prefix from the name of the first column.
 20. The system ofclaim 16 wherein the instructions further cause the one or moreprocessors to perform additional operations comprising: receiving asecond update for the application, wherein the second update does notrestore the first column to the database; and maintaining the firstcolumn in the database by removing the prefix from the name of the firstcolumn and replacing the prefix with a second prefix that refers to auser-defined software package.